By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
PENTWATER — Defense was the name of the game for the Pentwater boys basketball team in Tuesday night’s West Michigan D League matchup with visiting Mason County Eastern.
Keeping the Cardinals offense stymied the entire game, the Falcons posted a convincing 59-35 victory, but they had to survive a slow start to the second half.
The Falcons took a 17-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, and spread the margin to 24 points at halftime, 38-14 with a 21-7 second quarter.
Coming in with a two-game losing streak, Eastern capitalized on the Falcons bumpy third quarter for a 10-2 advantage. But it put only a minor dent in the Pentwater lead and the Falcons outscored the Cardinals, 19-12 in the fourth.
Trey Johnson fired in a game-high 25 points for the Falcons and also hauled down eight rebounds and picked off three steals. Will Werkema-Grondsma followed with 17 points and a team-leading 18 rebounds with two assists and three steals.
Mikey Carlson contributed six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Eastern was led in scoring by Clay Shoup with 11 points, while Aaron Drake had nine and Keegan Nelson added seven.
Pentwater improved to 15-5 overall and 14-2 in the league. The Falcons travel to Mesick for another WMD game Thursday night.
The Cardinals fell to 7-13 overall and 5-11 in the WMD with their third straight loss. Eastern hosts Manistee Catholic on Thursday night in a WMD game.
